TOKYOSep./Oct. 2002 NUKECitizens' Nuclear INFO Information Center No. 91 3F Kotobuki Bldg., 1-58-15, Higashi-nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-0003, JAPAN URL: http://www.cnic.or.jp/ e-mail : [email protected] JCO Criticality A c c i d e n t T h r e e Ye a r s o n : Q u e s t i o n s S t i l l U n a n s w e r e d
A survey assistant explains about a survey form of the effects of JCO criticality accident to the residents near JCO Co. on February 2002 (Naka-town, Ibaraki Prefecture. Photo by Noboru Kobayashi) Three years have passed since the JCO the Japan Congress Against the A- and H- criticality accident occurred on 30 September Bombs together organized the “JCO Criticality 1999. This article reviews results of the second Accident Comprehensive Assessment Com- field survey of Tokai-mura (Tokai Village) and mittee” in 1999 and issued a report in Septem- Naka-machi (Naka Town) residents, carried out by the JCO Criticality Accident Comprehensive CONTENTS Assessment Committee in February 2002, and JCO Criticality Accident Three Years on: summarizes the current status of trials concern- Questions Still Unanswered 1-3 The 14th International Summer Symposium on ing the JCO criticality accident that have not Science and the World Affairs 4-5 been covered since Nuke Info Tokyo 86. Data: - Japanese Pu stockpile 6 - Workers’ exposure 7 The JCO accident left deep scar TEPCO postponed Plu-thermal plan 8-9 Anti-Nuke Who’s who: Toshiko Baba 10 Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center and News Watch 11-12 Sep/Oct 2002 No.91 Nuke Info Tokyo ber 2000 (See NIT 80). The Committee has been resolved, and 64 percent of them still had been supported by the TOYOTA foundation in concerns for the effect that the radiation may assessing the JCO accident since November still have on them. 2001. In February 2002, more than two years 76 percent of them indicated a negative atti- after the September ‘99 accident, the JCO tude toward the installation of additional nucle- Committee members carried out a second field ar facilities in Tokai Village. 46 percent of survey of Tokai Village and Naka Town resi- them opposed the hosting of the ITER (Inter- dents. national Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) The survey was carried out as a part of a in Naka Town, while 24 percent favors hosting series of research surveys begun in Febru- the ITER project. In addition, more than half ary 2000, and which have been led by Koichi of the participants replied negatively to the Hasegawa, a professor of environmental soci- question suggesting that they would rather not ology at the Graduate School of Arts and Let- talk about topics relating the JCO accident and ters, Tohoku University, and Yuko Takubo, an nuclear power. Although the JCO criticality assistant professor of sociology at the College accident left local residents with deep scars on of Environmental and Disaster Research, Fuji the one hand, the opinion survey enlightens on Tokoha University. The aim of the surveys is how the accident has affected them and in what to examine current health condition of the resi- way the community of this area has changed; dents, the effects of the accident on their daily i.e. it can be seen that they have begun an open activities, and their opinions regarding nuclear discussion regarding nuclear power among power. themselves. As a result of this survey, 1,008 question- naires were completed from 535 households. The ruling on the JCO trial will be The recovery rate of 77 percent from the sam- delivered next spring ple households indicates keen interests among local residents about this issue. Prof. Hasega- On April 23, 2001, the first JCO public trial wa reported on the results and analysis of the was held at Mito district court, where the pub- survey in Tokai Village in April and in Tokyo lic prosecutor described how the JCO relent- in May. lessly continued its operation, resulting in the The results of the survey show that those death of two of their staff. Since then several who have been suffering from mental and hearings have been held to question witnesses. physical complaints have Table 1. Correlation between distance from the JCO site and the awareness of increased as compared to physical abnormalities 2 years ago, whose results were more than antici- not changed not feeling well in bad health Total within 350m 27 12 4 43 pated, and it was found to 62.8% 27.9% 9.3% 100% be statistically significant 350-500m 138 12 2 152 that those living closer to 90.8% 7.9% 1.3% 100% 500-1000m 187 24 3 214 the accident site tended 87.4% 11.2% 1.4% 100% to claim higher rates of 1000-1500m 253 20 4 277 abnormalities (Table 1 91.3% 7.2% 1.4% 100% and 2). 25 percent of the 1500-2000m 282 16 5 303 93.1% 5.3% 1.7% 100% participants who have Total 887 84 18 989 received medical diagnosis 89.7% 8.5% 1.8% 100% check-ups by Ibaraki Pre- upper: number of responses fecture reported that their lower: % χ2=43.217, d.f.=8, p<0.0012 anxiety and fear have not Nuke Info Tokyo Sep/Oct 2002 No.91
Mr. Yokokawa, one of the workers Table 2. Correlation between distance from the JCO site and the num- at the scene, testified in February ber of cases who have physical abnormalities and the testimony of five defen- 0 1 to to 9 10 Total dants’ were followed. The hear- within 350m 29 2 7 5 1 44 ings were completed in June. It 65.9% 4.5% 15.9% 11.4% 2.3% 100% is expected that the prosecutor’ 350-500m 115 12 19 4 3 153 75.2% 7.8% 12.4% 2.6% 2.0% 100% s as well as the defendants’ final 500-1000m 169 25 15 5 4 218 speech and recommendation for 77.5% 11.5% 6.9% 2.3% 1.8% 100% punishment for the accused will 1000-1500m 221 21 34 7 0 283 be made at Mito district court 78.1% 7.4% 12.0% 2.5% 0.0% 100% 1500-2000m 254 26 22 6 2 310 on September 2 and October 21 81.9% 8.4% 7.1% 1.9% 0.6% 100% respectively. A ruling in this case Total 788 86 97 27 10 1,008 is expected to be handed down at 78.2% 8.5% 9.6% 2.7% 1.0% 100% upper: number of cases the end of this fiscal year (next lower: % 2=33.728, d.f.=16, spring). χ The trial of the JCO case was taken place after each defendant tion of Nuclear Accident and Failures in the confirmed and agreed to the basic facts of the NSC and during the criminal trial. indictment. Defendants claimed that various It was extremely regrettable that human factors, along with an error made by the JCO, relationships between the PNC and the NSC, were involved in the cause of the accident. It is and a detailed account of how and why a “pre- known that the JCO conversion building where cipitation tank” was used in the JCO factory, the incident took place passed a safety inspec- have never been uncovered. tion in 1984, fifteen years before the accident. With regard to the economic damage caused However, the inspection was very superfi- by the accident, a fermented soybean produc- cial, and this is thought to be one element in tion company has filed a suit, seeking 18 bil- the cause of the accident. It was revealed for lion yen compensation against JCO. A fish the first time in the course of the trial that the retailing company and a marine products com- appointed safety inspector from the Science pany have brought cases to seek reparations of and Technology Agency (STA) had been con- 56 million yen and 80 million yen respectively. tracted out from Japan Nuclear Cycle Devel- In September 3 of 2002, three local residents opment Institute (JNC), formerly the Power appealed to a court for compensation for dam- Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Cor- age to their health. All the trials are currently poration (PNC), which had submitted an order ongoing. for uranium processing from JCO. It was also The JCO Criticality Accident Comprehen- stated during the trial that the PNC repeatedly sive Assessment Committee is planning to demanded that the JCO should carry out rush issue an interim report (in Japanese) in Sep- jobs for them. tember 2002. (The final report is expected to Since the PNC and the STA have not been be issued in the autumn of 2003). The interim charged with any crime for this trial, their report will include the committee members’ responsibilities have not been fully unveiled. reports on the status of the trials mentioned In particular, there has never been any official above, the results of the field survey of local investigation of the members of the Commit- residents, and problems associated with disas- tee on Examination of Nuclear Fuel Safety in ter prevention measures. By Satoshi Fujino the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC), which approved JCO’s safety inspection, during the session of the Special Committee on Investiga- Sep/Oct. 2002 No.91 Nuke Info Tokyo
Attending the 14th International Summer Symposium on Science and the World Affairs
I had an opportunity to attend an interna- However, their specialties were not limited to tional symposium entitled the “14th Interna- only nuclear engineering but to other special- tional Summer Symposium on Science and the izations such as laser physics and space engi- World Affairs,” which was held at the Univer- neering. sity of Illinois in the United States from July 15 Because it was the first symposium to be to 21, 2002. held after the last year’s September 11th terror- The symposium was hosted by the Union ist attacks in the U.S., many presentations con- of Concerned Scientists (UCS), a U.S.-based cerning nuclear terrorism attracted the audienc- non-governmental organization established by es’ attention. For example, a Chinese research- American scientists. Since the U.S. was the er calculated the damages that would occur if host country this time, the study program on terrorists launched a small-scale atomic bomb Arms Control, Disarmament, and International from a ship or a truck. Other researchers, con- Security at the University of Illinois cooperated sidering the kinds of nuclear weapons terrorists in the organization of the symposium. might use, indicated that reactor-grade pluto- For the past 30 years, according to the UCS, nium could be used for such purposes. technically informed specialists have began Other than terrorist related nuclear issues, a to play an important role in the policy arena Russian presenter talked about the capacities with regard to the issues of international safety for storing spent fuels at a plant named RT-2, assurance and arms control. While such spe- whose construction is currently suspended, and cialists watch the government and industry’s the way an operational procedure for secur- activities in such areas, they can also provide ing safety of the plant might be established. In basic scientific information to help policymak- addition, the following risk calculations were ers arrive at their decisions. performed for each case: an earthquake and The aim of this symposium was to support strong wind as exterior hazards; a fire as an young scientists whose research interest is interior hazard; the treatment of a cask; loss of related to international security and arms con- cooling water; and the loss of electrical power. trol. In particular, the organizer urged many A researcher from Germany reported that scientists to attend whose home country’s reactor-grade plutonium could be used to create natural science field has not paid special inter- a nuclear explosion by breeding tritium from a est to the issues discussed. Another important fusion power plant where the pre-ignition prob- purpose of this symposium was to create a lem will be lessened. network linking researchers working in similar I presented on the possibilities of nuclear situations. The symposium started in 1989 and fusion technologies being applied to the devel- has been staged in Russia, the U.S., China, and opment of nuclear weapons in Japan. Nuclear Germany, with researchers participating from fusion R&D is said to be conducted only for more than 18 countries, including Japan. peaceful purposes. I demonstrated from the This year, about 40 participants attended engineering point of view, however, that it from 9 countries, most of whom were engi- could be possible for research to be used for neers and physicists working in universities. military applications. By drawing attention Nuke Info Tokyo Sep/Oct 2002 No.91 to the Magnetic Confinement Fusion device Committee. JT-60 at Japan Atomic Energy Research Insti- Marvin Miller of the Massachusetts Institute tute (JAERI) and the inertial Confinement of Technology, made an interesting presenta- Fusiondevice Gekko-XII at Osaka University, tion entitled, “Japan and Nuclear Weapons, and I argued that we already had both nuclear tech- Reactor-grade Plutonium.” He emphasized nologies, such as neutron sources and tritium the fact that Japan took seven years to ratify production technologies, had potential military the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), which applications, and there are possibilities to trans- appeared to confirm Japan’s affirmative stance fer the development of certain other technolo- towards the utilization of nuclear weapons. He gies, i.e. laser and beams, in order to utilize concluded that therefore Japan could be regard- them for space weapon military purposes. In ed as essentially nuclear weapons state in light the discussion time, many questions were of the current advanced ability of Japan’s sci- raised regarding Japan’s three non-nuclear prin- ence and technology. ciples. It seemed that Japan’s plutonium stock- Regarding the impression of this symposium pile and highly advanced technology posed it seems to me that it was not wholly satisfac- serious threats to many foreign observers. tory since there was little discussion about the Apart from nuclear issues, there were many importance of citizens’ participation in this presentations related to space weapons and field. Perhaps this was unavoidable because technical criticisms of the Bush administration’ most participants came from universities and s missile defense strategy. research institutions; very few participants During the symposium, I used the univer- from non-governmental organizations at the sity’s housing and dining rooms, which pro- symposium. There were sometimes situations vided me with the experience of an American reflecting complicated national outlooks in college student. During a break, many par- which the use of nuclear weapons was justified ticipants visited an Amish village, which was as a necessary condition to protect the home located around an hour’s drive from the univer- country. However, all the experiences that I sity. The Amish have chosen not to participate gained during the symposium were very valu- fully in modern civilization - consuming a very able, prompting me to think about how I should small amount of energy - without any compul- work in this field in the future. sion in their living. In particular, their beautiful By Tadahiro Katsuta houses and attractive dress appealed to many participants. We enjoyed a simple but tasty meal there. Picture: Memorial photograph of symposium participants Following the symposium, on the 22nd and 23rd of July, the “1st Interna- tional Professional Meeting of Indepen- dent Technical Security Analysts” was held in Chicago. I had a chance there to meet Dr. Frank Von Hippel, who served as an assistant director of national secu- rity at the White House, and is a profes- sor at Princeton University, and Rich- ard L. Garwin, who has experience in developing nuclear weapons and served on the President’s Scientific Advisory Sep./Oct. 2002 No.91 Nuke Info Tokyo
Data: Japan’s Separated Plutonium Inventory
Amount of Plutonium as of the end of the year (kg, total plutonium) FACILITY 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Reprocessing plant of which 326 836 753 602 538 537 528 582 842 as nitorate 288 710 597 384 385 384 375 365 539 stored as oxide 38 126 156 217 153 154 154 217 303 MOX fuel fabrication plant of which 3269 3018 3146 3543 3649 3596 3491 3413 3294 stored as oxide 2339 2032 1980 2346 2553 2737 2652 2515 2323 under processing 790 948 985 786 726 473 481 439 551 completed fuel 140 38 181 411 370 386 358 360 420 Reactor sites of which 1089 498 823 887 819 832 1298 1290 1546 Joyo 15 6 31 48 23 2 38 18 64 Monju 637 15 367 367 367 367 367 367 367 Fugen 12 53 0 43 0 34 0 0 0 LWR 465 465 670 Critical assemblies 425 425 425 429 429 429 428 440 444 Overseas reprocessors of which 6197 8720 11378 15090 19083 24398 27596 32070 32379 BNFL 1286 1412 1418 2437 3549 6109 6957 10118 10713 COGEMA 4911 7308 9960 12653 15534 18290 20639 21953 21666 TOTAL 10881 13072 16100 20122 24089 29363 32913 37355 38061 Compiled by CNIC Data source: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Figure: Japanese Pu surplus
40000
35000
30000 Total - 1 - 25000 Oversea
20000
15000
10000
Domestic 5000
0 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 2000 2001 year
86 kgHM of plutonium was recovered at the Tokai reprocessing plant in 2001. Electric companies say that they will finish reprocessing the entire amounts - which were contracted out - by 2002 or early 2003. The pri- mary factor of increasing plutonium could attribute to its recovery in Japan and Britain. The plutonium stored at France was decreased since some of the fuels were shipped to Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant (NPP) fabricated as MOX (Mixed Oxide plutonium) fuel (205 kgHM in the table above) in Belgium or others were on the manufacture line for fabricating new MOX fuel at MELOX in France. By Hideyuki Ban Nuke Info Tokyo Sep./Oct. 2002 No.91 Data: Workers’ Exposure at Nuclear Plants
Workers’ Radiation Exposure at Nuclear Plants, 1980-2001 Annual Collective Dose of Nuclear Plant Workers (person-Sv) Fiscal Year Utility Employees Contract Workers Total 1980 7.96 119.52 127.47 1981 7.84 119.33 127.18 1982 7.33 117.67 125.00 1983 6.60 112.06 118.67 1984 5.97 111.25 117.23 1985 5.36 107.25 112.59 1986 4.31 97.68 101.98 1987 3.88 90.93 94.82 1988 3.76 89.00 92.76 1989 3.12 84.28 87.39 1990 2.96 79.01 81.94 1991 2.69 55.16 57.86 1992 2.66 60.89 63.54 1993 2.78 83.86 86.65 1994 2.45 62.48 64.89 1995 2.85 63.50 66.32 1996 2.92 66.10 68.99 1997 2.98 77.77 80.77 1998 3.07 68.78 71.85 1999 3.06 80.69 83.78 2000 3.13 75.72 78.83 2001 3.35 74.69 78.05 *Fugen Prototype Advanced Thermal Reactor excluded
[person-Sv] Source: Agency of Nuclear and Industrial Safety
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000
Utility Employees Contract Workers [Fiscal Year] Sep./Oct. 2002 No.91 Nuke Info Tokyo
TEPCO announced the postponement of the Plu-thermal program
Disputes at Fukushima Prefecture: Atomic proposed that the current reprocessing policy Energy Commission (AEC) and Fukushima should be changed so that spent fuels could be Energy Policy Review Committee (FEPRC) stored at an interim storage site until it is cer- exchange their views. tainly necessary to use plutonium. Additionally, the FEPRC requested that the government should The 20th Fukushima Energy Policy Review promote more information disclosure on nuclear Committee (FEPRC) was held in Fukushima city energy. This request is based on their experience on August 8 where five members of the AEC in which they went through many difficulties attended the meeting to exchange their views obtaining information during their research. with the committee members of the FEPRC In response to the EPRC, the AEC repeatedly including Mr. Eisaku Sato, the Governor of Fuku- claimed that the future success and the devel- shima Prefecture. The meeting was open to the opment of science and technology would not public. The more than 220 people attending this be realized if it has to be started from now, and meeting - there are usually about 20 - indicated therefore, it was necessary to continue the devel- the strong interest of the citizens of Fukushima opment of the FBR and the reprocessing of spent Prefecture. fuels. However, in the course of the discussion, After hearing initial statements from both there was a situation where one of AEC members sides, Mr. Sato explained his view that Fukushi- let slip real belief that the reason the government ma has long cooperated with the nation’s nuclear should stick to the reprocessing policy is that if policy, but has been tossed about by the central the current reprocessing spent fuel policy were government’s stated policy and their real inten- changed to store spent fuels at an interim storage, tions. In short, the government promised that it could be thought that the government changed spent fuels would not be stored at the Prefecture their policy. Apprehending the risk that the for a long time since the second fuel reprocessing APLTP will be seen as failure, the government facility was expected to start its operation around has clung to the goal of the old APLTP, which 2010. The Long Term Program for the Research doesn’t reflect the actual situation of nuclear and Utilization of Atomic Energy, which was energy. issued in June of last year, revised the principle After the meeting on August 21, the AEC sent that “the decision will be made based on the to the Governor, Mr. Sato, a letter presenting reprocessing capacity and the availability of tech- answers to the fourteen questions regarding the nology around 2010. The government’s promises nation’s energy policy. The letter also asked for regarding spent fuels were easily overturned. another meeting with the Governor. The contents Finally, the Governor submitted fourteen items of of the letter mostly affirm the status quo of the “questions on energy policy.” nation’s nuclear energy policy; it doesn’t address Then, prefecture officials and the AEC mem- any questions raised by the FEPRC. However, bers discussed the nuclear fuel cycle and infor- the concluding part of the letter deserves atten- mation disclosure. The officials pointed out, tion. It says: “nonetheless, as a practical issue referring to their original data, that the imple- if the Plu-thermal program were stopped at this mentation of the Plu-thermal program could not point, we suspect that the suspension would reduce the stockpiling of plutonium even if the necessitate taking appropriate measures to deal Rokkasho Uranium Enrichment Plant started its with spent fuels for the electric power generation operation. Questions were raised about AEC’s area,” referring to the fact that the reprocess- claim that the Plu-thermal program will resolve ing business of spent fuels could be regarded as the problem of stockpiling of plutonium. It was means to deal with spent fuels stored at nuclear Nuke Info Tokyo Sep./Oct. 2002 No.91 power plants, which could influence the utiliza- of the public referendum last year (those who dis- tion of whole nuclear power plants. Fukushima agree comprised 18.4%). Following such activi- citizens criticized it as an intimidatory and unrea- ties, it was found during a periodic inspection sonable argument. Governor Mr. Sato declined that the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Unit-3 core shroud to arrange a further meeting with the AEC. has some cracks, making it impractical to load MOX fuels during the test. Disputes at Niigata Prefecture: fight to protect Two days after that incident, it was reported the outcome of public referendum by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and TEPCO that TEPCO has covered-up and/or falsi- Aiming to load MOX fuels during a periodi- fied data on voluntary test from the mid-1980s cal inspection, which is expected to start from through to the 1990s. A detailed account of this August, several preparations were started in incident has not yet emerged, however, based Niigata prefecture. The Governor Mr. Hirayama on what has been reported so far, TEPCO seems of Niigata Prefecture remarked that the prefec- to have provided inaccurate data and omitted to ture could become the first to introduce the Plu- mention in its inspection report that cracks had thermal program. Soon after the Kansai Electric been found in reactor components such as the Company’s MOX fuel was shipped back to Eng- core shroud, the jet pump and the steam dryer. land, Kariwa village chief Mr. Shinada went to Initially, reports suggested that GEII (General Belgium for the examination of falsified data on Electric International Incorporation) had engaged MOX fuels, and he reported upon returning from in illegal operations, but it was later revealed that his trip that suspicion on data falsification no TEPCO had instructed GEII to falsify the data. longer remained. He carried out meetings with An influential local person who has worked village people in each 20 district in the village. with TEPCO felt this incident was a “betrayal.” At the same time, the mayor of Kashiwazaki-city According to a news report on September 2, visited Belgium and France and announced that it was unanimously decided that Okuma town doubt about the maintenance of quality verifica- assembly and council would reverse the previous tion data was cleared. On the contrary, citizens agreement on the MOX program (see table 1). It who oppose the implementation of the MOX is certain that the MOX-program in Japan will program, mainly local residents, visited local delay at least several years. The Plu-thermal pro- residences door-to-door to ask people to keep the gram, governemnt's de-facto policy, has failed. result of referendum. On August 27th, the results The operation of the Rokkasho Reprocessing of an opinion survey, which was conducted Plant will bethe next issue, granted that the August of this year and consulted 4,200 village AEC's reply to the Fukushima Governor on the residents, showed the majority of residents (80%) fourteen questions regarding the nation's energy agreed that the mayor should respect the outcome policy were true. By Hideyuki Ban
Table 1. Plu-thermal plan Plant Start year Current situation Okuma Town has cancelled the previous agreement on plu-thermal program (2002/9/2). Futaba Town has declared the suspension of plu-thermal program for the time Fukushima I-3 1999 being (2002/9/8). Fukushima Governor withdrew the previous approval on the Plu-thermal program (2002/9/26) Kashiwazaki City assembly has decided to call off plu-thermal program. Kashiwazaki 2000 The mayor cancelled the previous agreement (2002/9/11). Kariwa 3 Kariwa Village assembly has cancelled the previous agreement (2002/9/11) Takahama 4 1999 Return of MOX fuel to UK due to falsification of quality management data. Others There are no concrete plans so far. 10 Sep./Oct. 2002 No.91 Nuke Info Tokyo
Anti Nuke Who's Who Who’s who: Ms. Toshiko Baba
At first glance, Ms. Toshiko Baba seems to be an ordinary woman, but in fact she is quite unique. Her activity stems from nothing special, but from some- thing that anyone who lives in contemporary society knows. She values something that everybody knows about, but doesn’t care about any more. She acts on her own responsibility with her quiet faith that things can be done differently. “Life” is one of the examples. Every human being appreciates his or her life. Yet, how many of them have a serious desire to protect their lives? Food enables life; the human mind cares for life; but man-made materials threaten life. How many people As Toshiko’s two children are now eighteen and actually think about life and make their decisions thirteen years old, she has more free time than before. with life itself as the basis of their thought? Last year, she accepted a secretariat position in the When she was a college student Toshiko was court trial which is seeking to shut down the Hamao- devoted to drama. There, she met her man of destiny, ka nuclear power plants. If the plants cannot ensure became a housewife and had children. Hers was just safety against an inevitable earthquake, they have to an ordinary life until the baby inside her spoke to her be shut down. Toshiko’s attitude, stemming from a one day during a beautiful sunset. “I will be born purely life-centered perspective, has attracted much from all the air you breathe, all the water you drink, sympathy. We should not take the current situation and all the food you eat.” for granted. Rather, we should continue to speak out Having her children and seeing her life in terms about how we think society should be and try to work of a “life valuing” perspective, she realized the truth towards its realization. We should not fight with oth- that even her breast milk was contaminated with ers, not get angry, and not blame others for what is pesticides and radiation. Since then, she has been happening. Rather, we should talk to others, grieve, continuously active in doing what she can while and pray and try to indicate a new direction. This also valuing her time with her family as a house- approach shows Toshiko’s commitment to her long- wife. Although she feels that what she has done so cherished ideals. far is not so important, she has participated in many However, she said, “To be honest, I want to per- activities such as “A Radiation Measuring Room,” form in plays again.” It seems that she wants to live “Chernobyl Relief in Shizuoka,” and “Lectures for a a life that is as free as the wind. What could be better Healthy Life” and many more, including activities as than if all her worries were resolved so that she could an individual and also collaborative work in which live in the way she desires? By Ikuko Sugiura she sometimes cries and laughs with others.
SUBSCRIPTION Nuke Info Tokyo is a bi-monthly newsletter that aims to provide foreign friends with up-to-date information on the Japanese nuclear industry as well as on the movements against it. Please write to us for a subscription (Regular subscriber - $30 or ¥3,000/year; supporting subscriber $50 or ¥5,000/year). When paying in Japan, the subscription fee should be remitted from a post office to our post office account No. 00160-0-185799, HANGENPATU-NEWS. Due to costly processing fees on personal checks, when sending the subscription fee from overseas, please send it by international postal money order. We would also appreciate receiving information and newsletters from groups abroad in exchange for this newsletter. Citizens' Nuclear Information Center 3F Kotobuki Bldg., 1-58-15 Higashi-nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-0003 JAPAN Tel: 81-3-5330-9520, Fax: 81-3-5330-9530, E-mail: [email protected] Translators: Kazuhisa Koakutsu and Junko Yamaka Proof-readers: Antony Moore, Tony Boys, and Michael Donnelly Editor: Kazuhisa Koakutsu Nuke Info Tokyo Sep./Oct. 2002 No.91 11 NEWS WATCH
ANRE Begins Nuclear Promotion Educa- the central ministries to unify the nuclear regula- tion in Earnest tory administration, which used to be carried out On July 8, the Agency of Natural Resources separately by the former Science and Technol- and Energy (ANRE) set up the Energy Informa- ogy Agency (STA) and the Agency for Natural tion and Planning Division. It is an organization Resources and Energy, the former at the develop- of experts whose major functions include control ment level and the latter at the commercial level. and supervision of publicity (public informa- The arrested individual is suspected of receiving tion) on energy policies, a role, which used to be about 23 million yen from former officials of performed by the respective sections. The new industrial waste management contractors during division will also deal with interactive communi- the period between 1998 and 2001 when he was cations and energy education. What triggered the working at STA, and of helping them to procure creation of this division was the discussions held orders for nuclear-related businesses. The orders at the MOX Energy Promotion Council organized they attempted to secure include the project to by related ministries and agencies on the need for computerize drawings of nuclear plants. The such division since the planned program to use arrested person provided materials such as draw- plutonium in thermal neutron reactor (Plu-thermal ings and introduced staff in charge at power com- Program) has seen little progress. It is obvious panies to the officials. But the attempt did not suc- from this fact that the energy education aims at ceed. nuclear promotion. On the basis of the interim report issued by New Construction of Tsuruga 3 and 4 the above-mentioned council in August 2001, Incorporated into the Government’s Plan ANRE, in cooperation with the Ministry of Edu- On August 2, the Ministry of Economy, Trade cation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Industry decided to include Tsuruga 3 and 4 (MEXT), has begun, starting from this fiscal year, (both APWR and 1,538 MW), which Japan Atom- to select 60 model schools for energy education, ic Power Co.(JAPC) is planning to construct, in and is distributing teaching materials and a collec- the government’s Electric Power Development tion of guiding examples for nation-wide elemen- Master Plan. The construction of these reactors tary and junior and senior high school teachers. will start after approval is given following safety A major task of the newly established Energy inspection. Information and Planning Division is to further With regard to the construction of the reactors, strengthen these measures. however, the negotiations between three power In addition, each power company has been companies are not going smoothly over the ques- incorporating nuclear promotion in school educa- tion of who would take over the electricity gener- tion using various measures. Officially claiming ated from the reactors. JAPC is the wholesaler, that they are for energy education, power compa- and Kansai, Chubu and Hokuriku Electric Power nies are providing teaching materials including companies are to take over the generated power. CD-ROM software and sending lecturers. Kansai Electric is expected to guarantee to take over 50% of the electricity, but it is reluctant to An ANIS’ Assistant Section Chief Arrest- guarantee, claiming that it has excess generation ed on Suspicion of Bribery facilities. To a question from a Nihon Keizai An assistant section chief of the Agency for Shimbun reporter after he submitted a plan in Nuclear and Industrial Safety (ANIS) was arrested April 2000 for the construction in Fukui Prefec- on July 31, on suspicion of bribery. ANIS was ture and Tsuruga City, JAPC’s president Yoshi- established in January 2001 as part of reform of hiko Sumi stated that there is a possibility that 12 Sep./Oct. 2002 No.91 Nuke Info Tokyo the power to be generated from the reactors to be Atomic Power Co.’s Tsuruga 3 and 4 in August constructed at a cost of 830 billion yen may not be 2002 (See article on p. 11). With this large-scale sold. His fear is becoming a reality. investment, which MHI is going to make over 10 years, the company is planning to reinforce the NFI Begins Preparation for PBMR Fuel production system in line with exports of reactor- Plan related equipment for the United States. On August 1, Nuclear Fuel Industries Inc. newly established the Fuel Plant Development Ground-Breaking Ceremony for the Department. This is an organization for the devel- Mizumani Underground Research Labo- opment of a fuel manufacturing pilot plant for a ratory Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), for which On July 8, the ground-breaking ceremony was the company has received an informal order from held for the Mizunami Underground Research South Africa. The department was established Laboratory, which the Japan Nuclear Cycle in expectation of future orders for commercial- Development Institute (JNC) is planning to con- size plants. The department is said to start with struct in Mizunami City, Gifu Prefecture. It is a director and five or so staff members, and to be planned to drill a shaft 1, 000 meters deep and 6 gradually expanded. meters in diameter, to conduct basic research for With regard to PBMR, Mitsubishi Heavy underground disposal of high-level radioactive Industries, Ltd. has received an order for the wastes. The ceremony was not for the shaft itself development of a helium gas turbine for power but for a pond to dump mud and other material generation. which would be produced during the development of the site. The ceremony ended in ten minutes Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Making after the simple digging a hole, and after the cer- a Large-Scale Investment in Plant and emony the hole was reclaimed the construction of Equipment the shaft itself is scheduled to begin in FY2004. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) plans to However, as a result of this ceremony, Mizu- invest some 10 billion yen by the next fiscal year nami City will be granted a subsidy from the in its plant in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, to national government for local development. This introduce large-sized machine tools including was the purpose of the ceremony. The local gov- large cranes. The construction of pressurized ernment accepted the construction of the laborato- water reactors manufactured by MHI had stopped ry for this subsidy. Residents have opposed to the since Kyushu Electric Power’s Genkai 4 was plan in fear of a waste disposal facility adjacent to completed in 1997. MHI decided to make a large- the laboratory. The ceremony was also intended scale investment, however, since the construc- to encourage citizens’ to give up their opposition tion of Hokkaido Electric Power’s Tomari 3 was decided in November 2000, followed by Japan BOOK REVIEW Imanaka T., ed. 2001. “Recent Research Activities about the Chernobyl NPP Accident in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.” Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University. KURRI-KR-79 (ISSN 1342-0852) Sixteen years have passed since the accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant. How- ever, many issues remained unresolved such as the nature of the reaction process from its runaway nuclear reaction leading to the explosion, the degree of contamination around the area soon after the accident, and the amount of radiation exposures. It is also necessary to continue to examine long-term health conditions caused by the accident, e.g. the increas- ing incidence of thyroid cancer among the people. Dr. Tetsuji Imanaka, Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute (KURRI) has many times visited the affected area to examine the situation after the accident and exchanged opinions concerning the effects of the accident with researchers who have done significant work, some of whom Dr. Imanaka requested to write articles about their work. The report consists of five sections: the physical process (three articles), the radioactive contamination (six articles), the assessment of exposure dose (four articles), health effects and epidemiology (five articles), and radiation biology (four articles). It was published as an English technical report from the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute. The report is available as a PDF file at the following URL: http://www-j.rri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/NSRG/reports/kr79/KURRI-KR-79